Crater Lake - Kirsten Becker has set up a U.S. Bank account to
fund efforts to "bring Sam home"

The mother of a Portland boy, who was lost earlier this month in
Crater Lake National Park, is seeking money to defray the costs
of professional volunteer dog teams that she believes are the
best chance at finding her son.

"I need to bring Sam home, and this is how the park service and
I believe we have our best chance to find him," said Kirsten
Becker, mother of Samuel Boehlke, 8.

Sam, who has a form of high functioning autism, vanished into
the woods north of the park's caldera rim Oct. 14 while visiting
Crater Lake with his father, Ken Boehlke.

Though a weeklong, wide-ranging search followed, Kirsten Becker
said she believes her son's body is only a short distance from
the point at which he vanished and that he had been hiding.

"He
likes to run, and our speculation is that he'd only run a short
distance and then hunker down," she said Tuesday.

She set up an account at U.S. Bank on Tuesday where the public
can donate money to help pay for a private search contractor as
well as stipends for professionals who want to volunteer their
time. Any excess funds, she said, would go to children with
special needs.

The National Park Service, meanwhile, will soon announce its
plans for what they're calling a "limited continued search,"
park spokesman Mac Brock said Tuesday.

In the next few days, a helicopter and search dogs will scan the
search area. If they are unsuccessful, searchers may use more
dog teams that can operate in the snow.

"We could start getting snow anytime, and once we do, it
obviously becomes harder and harder to access that area," Brock
said.

These plans follows a massive search involving hundreds of
personnel that found no trace of Sam, save a few scents that led
nowhere.

Park officials this week underscored that their investigation
into the circumstances of Sam's disappearance has turned up no
evidence of foul play or criminality. Brock said, however, that
park personnel are open to all possibilities "if clues do point
them in that direction."

Interested individuals can make donations to the Samuel Boehlke-Becker
account at any U.S. Bank branch or by contacting the John's
Landing branch at 503-275-6695.